Dark Possession(28)

MaryAnn suppressed a yelp of fear and scrambled to her feet without help, backing away again, brushing at her clothing, feeling the swarm of insects on her legs and arms. I hate this! She screamed it so loud in her head she felt the echo through her clenched teeth. Her eyes burned with tears again.

The air around them charged with electricity so that the hair on her arm prickled.

"Take cover," Riordan yelled and leapt back.

Thunder rolled. The ground shook. Monkeys howled. Birds screeched and rose from the trees. Lightning sizzled and snapped, slamming to earth in a near-blinding display of energy. Fog poured in all around her. MaryAnn felt strong arms slide around her, and one hand pressed her face into a large, muscular chest. Her feet left the ground, and she was flying through the treetops so fast it made her dizzy.

Riordan swore and caught Juliette's arm when she would have pursued. "That was Manolito and he gave us a clear warning to back off. We have no choice but to do so. She's his lifemate and we have no business interfering."

"But…" Juliette trailed off helplessly. "We can't just leave her."

"We have no choice, not unless we want to provoke him into a battle. He will take care of her," Riordan assured. "We cannot do any more here."

Chapter Five

M ^ ^

MaryAnn circled Manolito's neck with her arms and buried her face in his shoulder. The wind whipped viciously at her face and neck, tugged maliciously at her hair and managed to slip under the leather jacket to wrap icy fingers around her skin. If she thought the rain forest was bad, flying in the canopy was a thousand times worse. She felt dizzy and sick, and her stomach did rolling flips. She'd face the million ants and the tree frogs before she'd do this again. As a child you must have wanted to fly.

She was certain he was reading her mind easily, and she could feel his superior male amusement, reminding her why she didn't care all that much for men. And since she wasn't in the least bit psychic or telepathic, she answered out loud, pressing her lips against his throat. "Never. Not once. I like my feet firmly on the ground." But his skin smelled so good. It was hard to not sniff and drag him into her lungs. Manolito settled them down in a relatively protected area, which she was grateful for because it instantly began to rain. Not a soft drizzle, or even a steady one, but a hard, pounding downpour, as if the heavens simply opened up and dumped an ocean on them.

MaryAnn stepped away from him the moment she had her legs working. Her stomach was still rolling and pitching, and she swore her nose twitched wanting another good sniff, but she refrained and sent him a long scowl. The problem was, he was looking at her. Not just looking. Staring. Her heart did a slow roll and her stomach did the butterfly thing, but with a lot more wing. And her womb clenched and her nipples…

She jerked her jacket tight around her and summoned a glare to go with the scowl. Who looked like that? Honestly. Men didn't really stand there looking gorgeous and hot in the rain forest. Not just hot. Smoking hot. He was the sexiest thing she'd ever laid eyes on, and he was looking at her like he might devour her in one utterly delicious bite. His eyes smoldered with a dark sensuality, making her forget all about leeches and ants, and making her wholly aware she was a woman. She hadn't felt that way in so long-if ever-that she was flustered.

"So," Manolito said, his black eyes burning with such pure sin she nearly melted on the spot. "You came at

last."

Oh, God. Her stomach did another roll right along with her heart, and she tasted sex in her mouth. He dripped with it. "I came to rescue you." She blurted the words out before she could think. She couldn't actually think with him staring and her brain short-circuiting, so really, as stupid as the remark might have been, it wasn't half-bad under the circumstances.

He smiled, a slow, sensual smile that sizzled and dazzled and tightened the spirals in her already curly hair. Maybe he was the Carpathian secret weapon against women, because it was working on her. The man was a menace. Truly. She had to get ahold of herself. She snapped her fingers. "Consider yourself saved and let's get out of here." Because wanting to jump him was most likely the effect of the rain forest, all sultry and sweaty. She'd read a lot of Tarzan books in her youth. She was just programmed for sex in the jungle, and the sooner she got out of there, the faster she'd return to normal.

He crooked his finger at her. "Come here."

Her mouth went dry. "I'm perfectly fine right here, thank you."

With her favorite boots sinking into the muck. She couldn't move if she'd wanted to. Her heart pounded and fear crept in, not of him, of herself. For herself.

His gaze slid over her, and there was dark possession glittering in the black depths. Not love. Possession. Ownership. Raw sensuality. Her body responded, but her brain screamed a warning. She wasn't dealing with a human male who lived under the rules of her society. She was alone with a Carpathian who believed he had every right to her. Who knew he could control her mind and persuade her to do his bidding. This man would demand total submission and surrender from his partner. And she was a no-submission, no-surrender kind of woman. How the hell had she gotten herself into such trouble?